Republican Mia Love could make history in Utah

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Mia Love of Utah might become the first black GOP woman elected to Congress

SALT LAKE CITY — In her bid to become the first black Republican woman elected to Congress, Mia Love is the party’s emblem of diversity this year. She is reluctant to embrace the role, saying she does not let race or gender define her politics.

The 36-year-old mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, points to her policy stances as the reason for her success.

‘‘I was elected mayor not because of my race or gender, not because I wear high heels, but because of the policies I put in place,’’ Love said.

Polls show Love with a slight lead over Democratic Representative Jim Matheson, a six-term incumbent. The race is too close to call.

In a party that has struggled for decades to attract black voters, the daughter of Haitian immigrants included subtle nods to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks in her speech to the Republican National Convention in August.

‘‘Our story has been told for over 200 years with small steps and giant leaps,’’ she told the delegates. ‘‘From a woman on a bus to a man with a dream, from the bravery of the greatest generation to the innovators and entrepreneurs of today, this is our story.’’

Love has made much of her family story, a hallmark of her speeches: Her parents legally immigrated to Brooklyn, N.Y., in the early 1970s, she says, with just $10 in their pockets. She says her father — who has worked as a painter, janitor, and school busdriver — taught her never to ask for a handout. Her parents became naturalized citizens in 1984.

Black Republicans long have been scarce in Congress. Of 26 black GOP House members since 1870, the majority served in a post-Civil War Reconstruction era. The first black senator elected after Reconstruction, however, was a Republican, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sununu backs off remarks on Powell

WASHINGTON — A top adviser to Mitt Romney is backing away from his suggestion that fellow Republican Colin Powell endorsed President Obama because both men are black.

Former New Hampshire governor John Sununu issued a statement late Thursday night saying Powell is a friend and he respects the endorsement.

‘‘I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president’s policies,’’ Sununu said in the statement.

Appearing on CNN earlier on Thursday, Sununu said he wondered whether Powell had ‘‘a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.’’

Host Piers Morgan asked what reason that would be. Sununu said, ‘‘Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him.’’

Powell endorsed Obama on Wednesday on CBS ‘‘This Morning,’’ saying that the president got the United States out of Iraq, has laid out a plan for leaving Afghanistan, ‘‘and didn’t get us into any new wars.’’

Powell, a former US secretary of state, also endorsed Obama in the 2008 campaign.